Spring Break
by Victoria Quynn
Summary: Easter evening at the McFaddens, the end of spring break.


Spring Break

Hannah McFadden finished sweeping the kitchen floor and put the broom in its corner in the laundry room. Standing with arms folded in the doorway leading to the kitchen, she watched her two youngest brothers-in-law wipe dry and put away the last of the dinner dishes, their chatter the stuff of how to make soap suds last longer interspersed with how jelly beans were made. Shaking off her curiosity about the correlation between the divergent subjects, she smiled and ruffled both heads before making her way to the living room.

There, her husband Adam and his brothers Crane and Daniel sat with guitars in hand. The three rehearsed a song they planned to play in church the following week for their turn in the musical rotation.

Daniel regarded Hannah as she sat down. "We're ready for you and Ford. Once we get your parts down, the rest of us'll work out the background."

Hannah noted, "Let's wait a couple days. It's getting late and the boys have to get ready for school tomorrow." Just as Ford and Guthrie entered the room, she continued, "Spring break's over, remember?"

Crane grinned. "Daniel forgot about school breaks when he graduated."

"Yeah, they're easy to forget when you don't have to worry about them anymore," the middle McFadden agreed.

"Wish I could just forget about school." Guthrie flopped on the couch next to Hannah. "Summer'll never get here."

Ford leaned on his arms on the sofa top. "It'll be here before we know it."

"Nah, it's still two months away." Guthrie smirked. "Ford would go to school in the summer if he could."

"No, I wouldn't. I like to have fun, too."

"Yeah, but fun to you is spending all your time in the library looking things up."

Before Ford could respond, Crane jumped in, narrowing an eye at Guthrie. "What's the matter with the library? You used to like spending time there."

"I still do when I have to, but not all the time," the youngest explained.

"I don't want to spend all my time in the library, either – just when I have to." Ford thought a second. "It's stupid to argue about, though. Evan's the one who doesn't like school as much as we do."

Adam interjected, "Let's not talk about Evan when he's not here, okay?"

Guthrie smiled. "Okay, we'll wait until he comes back in." He grinned at Ford. "Deal?"

"Deal." Ford noticed the instrument Adam cradled. "Are you gonna play, too?"

"Looks that way." Adam strummed the guitar. "Took long enough to get back up to speed. Been too long since I picked this up." He glanced at Crane and Daniel. "With these two playing all the time, I've gotten rusty."

The side door opened. Brian walked in followed by Evan. "Speaking of rusty, one of the hinges on the barn door is rusted out. Maybe Crane can pick some up tomorrow. If we're gonna replace one, might as well do them all."

Evan volunteered, "I'll help."

"No, you won't. Back to school tomorrow," Hannah reminded.

The fifth-born glowered. "Please don't remind me. That's the worst thing about Easter."

Guthrie commiserated, "You got that right." Brightening, he grinned at Ford. "We can talk about Evan now."

"Huh?" Evan questioned.

Adam stood. "Nobody's gonna talk about anybody." Setting the guitar aside, he announced, "Let's enjoy the last half hour before you guys head upstairs."

Ford said, "I've gotten used to staying up later. Might be hard to get to sleep so early."

Evan stretched. "I'm beat. Won't be any trouble for me."

Brian cupped Evan's shoulder. "Yup, you did more than your share this week, pard. Pretty soon you'll be able to handle all the chores by yourself and I can take it easy."

Evan's countenance brimmed with confidence. "I can do it."

"Don't get any ideas, buster." Adam wore that dead serious expression none of them dared cross. "You'll be finishing school in a few months. Then you can show us what you're made of."

Daniel chuckled. "If he's still here and not off riding bulls for a living."

Brian pulled Evan close. "He'll prove himself here first. Takes a stake to go off and bust broncs."

Guthrie noted, "So much for not talking about Evan … Who's next?"

Hannah joined Adam at the fireplace. "What's next is lunch for tomorrow. How about ham sandwiches?" At three okays, she said, "Good. We'll be having ham the rest of the week."

"Yeah, Bri, what were you thinking? Three hams?" Daniel rolled his eyes.

Brian winked at Hannah, his co-conspirator. "All the better for leftovers, Dan'l. Besides, they were on special."

Money manager Crane piped up, "Yeah, on special's good, but I'm not gonna want to even look at a pig after this week."

Hannah offered, "No problem. We'll pull out the last of the turkeys we picked up on sale at Thanksgiving for next week."

Ford thought out loud, "Ham this, turkey that …"

"There's a song in there somewhere," Daniel quipped. "Just don't know how it'd go." He played a few chords on his guitar and groaned. "Nope. Forget that."

Crane noted dryly, "Can't be worse than the Eggman's song."

Ford's dander rose. "No one was supposed to mention that again!"

"Sorry, Ford." Crane glanced at his younger brother. "You can hand the Eggman suit off to Evan to start on his rodeo stake."

Never one to turn down his chance in the spotlight, Evan puffed out his chest. Smiling, he offered himself up for target practice. "Okay, it's my turn, I guess. Keep the arrows coming. I can take it."

Guthrie pulled back his hand on an imaginary bow and launched an invisible arrow. Its aim true, Evan stepped into it and grunted in feigned pain. Putting a hand to his chest, he pulled out the unseen missile. Twice more, Guthrie shot and Evan pulled it out, both laughing and the family joining in. Good-natured fun though it was, Adam spoke up when Evan yawned. "Okay, enough William Tell. Guthrie, you're first up for showers. As of right now, spring break is over."

The youngest sighed. "Aw, Adam, just another half hour? Ford's right, it'll take a long time to fall asleep."

Adam raised a brow. "Then next school break we'll keep to regular bedtimes so you don't have trouble on the last night. Besides, after sunrise service this morning, I'd think we'd all be ready for bed."

With a dejected okay, Guthrie started up the stairs. Halfway up, he looked down at Adam. "Pretty please?"

"March!"

Guthrie continued upstairs, closing the bathroom door behind him. As the door latched, Ford rose. "Guess I'll get my stuff ready."

Evan smirked. "You're always ready to get back to school."

"What's the matter with that?" Ford asked. He reminded, "Don't know what you're complaining for. It's the last time you'll have to do it since you're graduating soon."

Evan grinned from ear to ear. "That's right. Thanks for reminding me, _little brother_!"

"Who you calling _little brother_? I'm only a year behind you!"

"Exactly. A year _behind_ me." Evan slapped Ford playfully on the back. "Your turn'll come soon enough, Ford." His mood lightening, Ford joined Evan in the kitchen to make their lunches for the next day.

Hannah snuggled in Adam's arms. "So just another normal Easter – church, ham, candy, and back to school arguments. All's normal with the world."


End file.
